Not Sick Chapter 30
Set The Stage
"Have you seen Shikamaru?"
Choji was eating slowly. The sight was more unsettling to Ino than she thought it had a right to be. The restaurant around them didn't care; the bustle of waiters taking orders, sizzling meat, slurping and chewing and laughter, demanding commands, obnoxious snorts, and a single breaking glass weren't slowed or dulled by Choji's unusually reasonable pace.
No one there cared that Ino and Choji, and the other shinobi sitting with them, had almost died just two days ago.
The Yamanaka poked at her salad with her fork. She couldn't stop noticing that the center prong was bent, just slightly. It made the whole thing seem unwieldy and useless.
"Ino?"
Kiba Inuzuka's rough voice brought her head snapping up. He was staring at her, his slit eyes slightly narrowed. She realized Choji had asked her a question, and redirected her attention to him. The Akimichi had been on edge since they'd returned; he'd taken on a very un-Choji-like brusqueness. The slabs of meat covering his plate steamed, the vapors distorting his face just slightly.
She shook her head, answering his question and ignoring the clamor of the restaurant. "No," she said, poking at her salad again. They'd usually come here as a team. When Asuma had died, those visits had slowed down, but hadn't stopped.
"He hasn't left his house much," she heard herself say. "I don't know what he's up to."
Choji leaned back, his mein relaxing. "You're worried about him?" Kiba was watching the both of them out of the corner of his eye; Ino barely knew why he and Akamaru were here. They'd found him in the street, escorting a battered Sai. Before any of them had known it, they'd been eating together.
Ino blinked, finally responding to Choji's question. "You're not?" Her voice wasn't quite a hiss, but it shared a neighborhood with it.
Choji frowned. "Don't say it like that," he said, putting down his chopsticks. He leaned back farther, his head hitting the backboard of his seat. "You know I am. But I think you and I are worrying differently."
"He died, Choji!" Now Ino was hissing, her voice dropping lower, like a tiger readying itself for a leap. "He died because we weren't good enough. What is there not to-!"
Sai dropped his chopsticks, and they landed on the edge of his plate with an unusually loud clatter. The pale boy let out an annoyed grunt, staring at the fallen utensils, and reached out for them with trembling hands. The thick bandages wrapped around his fingers made the motion look clumsy and difficult.
The former Root operative had cut into the bones of his hand defending against his own blade in Amegakure. It wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed by Konoha's accomplished medics, but it had only been two days.
"Ah," he said, with just a hint of frustration. His fingers gradually wrapped around his chopsticks, slowly bringing them back up as his whole arm tensed in concentration.
"Oh, cut it out!" Ino snapped, plucking the wooden sticks from Sai's unresisting fingers. "You're not supposed to be using your hands, dummy!"
Sai glanced at her with flat eyes. "I'd rather not starve," he deadpanned.
Ino narrowed hers in response. "Open wide, then." She speared a piece of beef a little viciously and brought it up to Sai's face. The injured operative considered the steaming meat, and then shrugged extravagantly and opened his mouth.
Kiba watched the Yamanaka feed Sai with a dull interest for several seconds, before turning to Choji. Beside him, Akamaru yipped and snagged a particularly large cut of meat.
"So you haven't seen him much?" he asked. Choji nodded, squinting at Ino and Sai. Kiba frowned. "Same for me. Not Shikamaru, I mean," he corrected himself. "But I've barely seen Hinata and Shino. I don't know what they're up to."
"I haven't seen Sakura either," Ino cut in. "I'm worried about her too. And…"
"Why?" Sai said through a mouthful of meat.
Everyone at the table turned to him, including Akamaru.
"Why?" Kiba echoed incredulously.
Sai blinked back as Ino lowered some food away from his mouth, her own hanging open slightly. She looked almost angry, but as usual, Sai didn't seem to notice. He just swallowed and looked around with an innocent look.
"Why?" he repeated.
"Sai," Ino said, sounding like a dam about to burst. Her voice bridled with suppressed violence, and the chopsticks in her hand splintered slightly. Choji just watched with narrowed eyes. "After what happened in Amegakure…"
"But the mission succeeded," Sai said in a mild voice, frowning slightly. "Akatsuki was destroyed, and Sasuke Uchiha was retrieved. And with no casualties. I don't-"
"People died, idiot," Kiba growled, and Akamaru with him. The Inuzuka was bristling. "Don't say bullshit like 'no casualties' just because everyone made it back!"
Sai stared at him, and then at everyone else at the table. His injured hands twitched for a second, before relaxing.
"They're not dead," he said softly. "No one is."
"It doesn't-" Choji started to say, before the pale boy cut him off.
"Some of our comrades died in Amegakure," he said carefully, making eye contact with the Akimichi. "They gave our lives for us; Hinata and Neji Hyuuga, Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, Tenten, Rock Lee. They died so that we might accomplish the mission." He blinked. "But they are not dead. Why are you all here, worrying about them, when they are out there, in the village, waiting for you? If you are worried for them, why are you not seeking them out?"
There was no answer to his question other than silence. Kiba, Ino, and Choji found themselves glancing at each other. The Yamanaka dropped Sai's chopsticks, and they landed on his plate with a muted clatter.
"I thought you were an idiot," Kiba asked with suspicion after a moment. Akamaru barked, cocking his head, and the Inuzuka looked back at him.
Sai opened his mouth. No one there ever found out what he was going to say. Instead, what came out of his mouth was-
"Sasuke?"
Kiba swung around, and Ino with him, her head jerking away from Sai. Choji took a bit longer, turning with a frown. Akamaru let out a confused yip, reflected by the look on Kiba's face; neither nor the Inuzuka nor his partner had smelled the Uchiha approaching. Even if he'd been masked by the busy restaurant and their own distraction, that was unusual.
"Hello." Sasuke sounded… amicable. Pleasant, almost. It was a bit disconcerting. The Uchiha had always been a terse, tense person, when he wasn't being silent.
Sai smiled vacantly, and Kiba frowned.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
Sasuke told him.
Sasuke Uchiha walked the streets of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and hardly a soul recognized him.
He was older than when he'd left; thirteen year old Sasuke Uchiha, missing-nin in all but name, had been a wiry boy with pale features and a blank face. He had been replaced by a imposing teen with dark eyes and a purposeful purposeless stride. He walked like an experienced shinobi, but he didn't wear a hitai-ate, or any other emblems of the village. Nearly everyone he passed in the pleasant midday sun ignored him thanks to this; he slipped under their eyes as another unremarkable teenager in long black pants and a loose fitting grey t-shirt.
The more attentive ones noticed the presence he carried through the bustling roads. Civilians tended to frown and watch him for a moment before going on with their business, unsure of what the prickling, phantom itch on the back of their neck meant. A father tugged his daughter along, drawing her closer to himself.
Shinobi did much the same, but some of them channeled minute amounts of chakra, just in case. Sasuke could taste it, like the hint of distant smoke in the air.
The ANBU patrol of two men and one woman following him along the rooftops could feel it too. Sasuke was aware of the signals they were sending each other, as well as any shinobi below who reacted to him with too much shock.
'Ally,' they were saying in the common simple sign language Konoha shared amongst its ninja.
That was a strange thought to him, but it rang true, so Sasuke kept walking. He'd met with almost everyone; there were only four left now.
Well, five, but he didn't think he and Itachi would be meeting today. Whether it was intuition or internal resistance, Sasuke wasn't sure.
There was something comforting about retracing the paths of his old village. Not much had changed, but what had stuck out to him; a felled wall here or there, a building expanded beyond its original dimensions, extended power lines or new restaurants. Subtle change had swept through the village. It was more colorful than Sasuke remembered; vivid red and green hung in tapestries and signs from the walls and overhangs, and the buildings themselves burst with cheerful light.
He couldn't tell if his memories had dulled this place, or if now he was simply allowing himself to see it for what it was.
He could have gone by the roofs, at speeds that would have left his ANBU escort behind, at least temporarily. Sasuke knew this. But he'd resolved to walk. What he was doing couldn't be rushed. It felt… improper, to do that.
There was a cool breeze whispering through the street, and it rustled Sasuke's hair and made the banners hanging above the street flutter with soft sounds. He suppressed a sigh; he hadn't realized until he'd taken a shower how full of rust and blood and acidic rainwater his hair had been. His whole frame felt lighter, surer, since he'd returned from Amegakure.
With his brother's eyes, the world was clearer than ever.
"Sasuke?"
They let him identify the shinobi who had resolved to approach him before the man himself was even sure of his intent.
Sasuke stopped. He waited, allowing the older shinobi to approach. He was surprised that the man didn't hesitate, even when Sasuke met his eyes; he looked right back, meeting Sasuke's gaze. It was the rare ninja who did that to an Uchiha.
The scar across the man's nose drew Sasuke's eye, and the brief trade of invisible recognition ended.
"Iruka...sensei." Sasuke affixed the honorific uncertainly, just slowly enough for the pause to be noticeable.
Iruka Umino considered his old student. He shifted, just slightly, and something clinked in one of his many pouches. Whatever he was weighing, Sasuke didn't know; his body language gave away nothing.
"I thought it might be you," the teacher finally said, shaking his head as a rueful grin slipped into being. "But I couldn't be sure. You really are back then?"
"Technically, I was back two weeks ago," Sasuke said, and his academy teacher shrugged.
"You were in the hospital the whole time. Out of sight, out of mind, you know?" Iruka looked him up and down. "But now here you are. Walking around, and of your own will." His brow furrowed. "Naruto really did it. Even after..." He let the phrase dangle, but the both of them knew what he was talking about.
"Hn." Another gust of wind swept lazily down the street. Sasuke looked past his teacher, then refocused on him. "Have you seen him? I need to tell him something."
Iruka frowned. "I have."
"Where?"
"He came to me," Iruka said. "At the academy. Sasuke… I hope you don't mind if I take a minute of your time."
He reached into one of his back pockets and removed something metallic and black. It took Sasuke a moment to realize what it was.
A hitai-ate.
A strangely familiar one, as well. All of Konoha's forehead protectors were essentially the same, but Sasuke realized that he knew this one.
"Is that…"
"Naruto's, yes," Iruka said, looking down at the hitai-ate. "He gave it to me." His lips twisted, and he took a deep breath in through his nose. "Sasuke, I don't know what happened in Amegakure. The Hokage's kept it locked down; all I know is he went there with half of his graduating class and Might Gai's team, and came back with you."
Iruka took a step forward, his face hard. "But you've got to tell me."
Sasuke regarded him with a hint of uncertainty. Iruka had never showed this side of himself to his students at the academy. "The Hokage-"
"This is more important than whatever the Hokage thinks," Iruka said, his voice a cold blade. "What happened in that village? What made Naruto give me back my hitai-ate?"
'My.' Sasuke's eyebrows arched at that. He'd never known that Naruto's forehead protector had belonged to their former teacher.
There was a slight lull in the pedestrian traffic; the street was mostly empty but for them. Sasuke wondered for a moment if he'd unconsciously driven it away. Or if Iruka had. The man was radiating… threat. It couldn't be described any other way. Like a recently turned off stovetop, still hot to the touch.
It wasn't threat directed towards Sasuke, though. It was aimless; it washed over the street and stifled the wind, before curling back in on itself in hopeless frustration.
"The leader of the Akatsuki forced Naruto to unleash the Kyuubi," Sasuke said after a moment, and Iruka sucked in a breath. "He murdered all of Team Gai, Hinata Hyuuga, Shikamaru Nara, and Shino Aburame before Naruto chose to. Everyone else was badly injured."
Sasuke pressed on before Iruka could blink. "And then, after Naruto and I managed to defeat him, he brought them back to life."
Iruka couldn't respond to that with anything but silence. He stared at the Uchiha, his eyes wide. his facial scar stretched across his face, drawn taut by his shock. His directionless rage had been blown away, leaving him hollow and cool.
"You've had an interesting week," he finally said.
Sasuke almost laughed. The academy teacher's face was pale, and his voice faint. It took a second, but Iruka's face hardened, and he thrust his hand out. The hitai-ate in his palm caught a glint of the sun.
"You're going to give this back to him." Sasuke hadn't heard someone give him such a definite command in a long time. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. Being independent had had its own perks.
Then again, being independent had ended when he'd had his eyes ripped out.
"I couldn't get through to him," Iruka said. He grinded his teeth just slightly as he did, but Sasuke didn't think he noticed. "But if anyone can… it's going to be you, Sasuke."
Iruka smiled, a bit bitterly. "Find him, would you?"
Sasuke took the hitai-ate. Iruka stepped back, gave him a small nod of thanks, then turned away.
The Uchiha continued down the road, leaving Iruka behind. In his peripheral vision, he saw the man's shoulder's slump. His own straightened; Sasuke's whole body grew more focused. The sky was completely clear and blue, but nevertheless he could hear pounding rain; he could feel his body being drenched, his arms and chest and head aching.
Sasuke could hear his mother, asking him a question as she tried to break his windpipe. And he could hear his answer.
'I did have a friend.'
The moment passed; the rain faded, and the words with them.
But as he walked down the street away from his former teacher, Naruto's hitai-ate held loosely in one hand, Sasuke didn't forget them.
It took him half an hour to find Naruto. In the end, all he had to do was look up.
It was rude to climb over the Hokage Monument. Or at least, Sasuke remembered it that way. That kind of thing was probably thrown out in favor of practicality in a life or death situation, but this wasn't one of them. So he took the long way up, moving along the side of the mountain rather than the face of it.
Naruto was waiting for him at the top. Waiting, Sasuke knew, because Naruto definitely knew he was coming.
The Uzumaki was sitting down crosslegged atop the carving of the Yondaime. He looked out over Konoha, his bright blonde hair moving in the wind, unrestrained by any hitai-ate. He didn't acknowledge Sasuke's presence, even as the Uchiha strode up and sank down beside him.
There was a moment of silence, interrupted by nothing but the gently whistling wind. Konoha stretched out below them, miles and miles of tangled and vibrant buildings pulsing with , the faint waft of something cooking or a snatch of sound, a bark of laughter or a half-heard word, floated up from the village. Beyond its walls, a forest of immense trees stretched for as far as the eye could see, a sea of whispering green.
"Hey," Sasuke eventually said. He looked over. Naruto didn't look back.
"Hey," the Jinchuriki said. He sounded slightly subdued. Sasuke kept watching him.
Naruto's eyes were gold. Red pigmentation had spread around them, painting the area below his temple and above his nose a bright crimson. He was staring fixedly down at the village, but he caught Sasuke's head turning in his peripheral vision and turned his head slightly to meet his eyes for a moment.
They didn't say anything, but Naruto's mouth twisted into a half frown. He was the first to turn away, looking back at the village. Sasuke matched him, and after a moment, his Sharingan activated. It spooled out, eventually completely transforming into its star-and-shuriken shape. He memorized the Hidden Village below him with a glance, and then the red and black slid away.
"I'm feeling them," Naruto suddenly said, and Sasuke glanced back to him. The forest at their back murmured. The blond's fixation with the village hadn't changed. "It's like I can see every one of them."
"The village?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto nodded.
"When I'm like this…" he said, tapping the side of his head and indicating his golden eyes. "I can sense chakra for miles around. It's kinda like how I found Pain."
"Why are you up here, Naruto?" Sasuke said, and Naruto blinked.
He didn't answer the question immediately. Sasuke could see him turning it over in his head.
"You're not going to leave again, right Sasuke?" he finally said.
Answering a question with a question. Sasuke had to fight the urge to sigh. That was nothing like Naruto.
"Tell you what," he said, shifting his legs beneath him. "If you answer my question, I'll answer yours."
"Hmm." Naruto glanced over at him again, as if making sure he was still there. "It was the only place I could be alone."
Sasuke nodded. That made perfect sense to him.
"And I wanted to make sure," Naruto amended. He hesitated, before continuing. They both knew what he meant, but he needed to say it out loud anyway. "That everyone was still alive."
Sasuke leaned back. "Of course they are, Naruto."
"Hey, I know that," Naruto shot back with just a little too much heat. "But… I just keep…"
"You feel guilty," Sasuke said. Naruto's brow twitched.
"Duh," Naruto said bitterly. Now, he was actually meeting Sasuke's eyes. His own were narrowing. "I… I know it's not my fault. Not really. Hinata even said so, right before…" Sasuke cocked an eyebrow at the mention of the Hyuuga as Naruto struggled with the words in his throat, before swallowing them down. "It was Nagato. He was the one who…" He drifted away, looking back over the monument. "But I can't just… forget. Or…" He shook his head. "I'm not making sense."
"Not really," Sasuke agreed, and for just a half-second Naruto fought a grin, before his face sobered once more. Sasuke waited a moment, and then pressed ahead.
"Is that why you gave Iruka your headband?"
Naruto stiffened. "Hey, you gotta answer my question first."
"I'm not going to leave again," Sasuke said, almost impatiently. There was something gnawing at his gut, seeing Naruto so indecisive. It clashed too much with the idiot that he knew; this conversation was like one between strangers. Whatever he and Naruto had been before he left, they hadn't been strangers. "Why did you give Iruka his headband back?"
"He told you, huh," Naruto said, leaning back on two hands and closing his eyes. "I couldn't hold onto it."
Sasuke started to say something, but Naruto shut him up with a sharp look.
"Hinata, Shikamaru, Neji, Tenten, Lee," he said forcefully. "Them dying wasn't my fault. I can work with that, even if I don't believe it right now. But Sasuke, I still fucked up." He leaned in just slightly, his face intensely focused. "I shouldn't have been such an idiot and gone after you so quickly. I did exactly what Pain wanted, and everything almost went…" He shook his head violently, bleeding frustration. "It could have been none of us coming back from that. We got way too lucky. I should have trusted you to last longer in Amegakure. I should have trusted Baa-chan to let me go after you when I was ready, not just because I was angry and scared. She really laid into me yesterday, after we all got back. I thought she was gonna cave my head in, she was so angry."
Naruto was talking faster than usual, and Sasuke just listened with a flat, calm look.
"So I gave my headband back to Iruka-sensei," Naruto continued. "I'm gonna start over. I'm going to get a new one, and this time, I'm going to do better. I'm not going to fuck up like I did. I'm not going to let anyone else suffer because of my mistakes."
The last word held in the air for a moment before being swept away by the breeze. Naruto's hair moved in it as he stared at Sasuke, his eyes begging him to understand.
Sasuke did. Perfectly.
"You're running away."
Naruto blinked. At the same time, his Sage Mode ran out, and his eye coloration returned to normal. He flinched, and spoke.
"What?"
Sasuke looked back out over the village. "That's not your nindo, is it Naruto? Running away?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto hissed. He grabbed the front of Sasuke's shirt, jerking the Uchiha to face back towards him. Sasuke's calm expression didn't change and Naruto's fist violently trembled just below his face. This seemed familiar to him, and he knew Naruto was feeling it too.
"You want to start over," Sasuke said. He pulled Iruka's headband out from behind his back, and held it up. "You thought that if you gave this back, you could begin again. Be a different shinobi."
Naruto's face was twitching with rage, and Sasuke's lips thinned. "You shouldn't do that, Naruto."
The blond regarded him with a predator's eyes, the same color as the sky above. This had happened before. Naruto had grabbed him, his hands shaking in rage, and asked him confused and angry questions. They'd even been on top of a giant stone head.
But that time, Sasuke had been the one running away.
"And why not?" Naruto growled.
"You don't run away from your mistakes," Sasuke said with conviction. He didn't have to say "dumbass" out loud for Naruto to know he was saying it anyway, and his friend's grip tightened. "You turn and face them."
Naruto's eyes went wide, and Sasuke's grip around his hitai-ate loosened. "How long have you been watching the village, Naruto? From up here?"
"'Bout three hours," the Uzumaki bit out.
"Then you know where I've been," Sasuke said. Naruto let him go, and he had to put back a hand to steady himself as he fell back. Naruto got to his feet, and after a moment Sasuke joined him, Naruto's headband dangling from his hand. They faced each other from a meter away.
"Yeah," Naruto said, frowning. "I saw. I didn't…"
"The Hyuuga, Hinata and Neji, as well as their clan's leader," Sasuke said. "Might Gai, Tenten, and Rock Lee." He blinked at the memory of the three wrapped in a tearful embrace in the middle of a ruined training field. "Ino Yamanaka, Kiba Inuzuka, Choji Akimichi. That black-ops agent who goes by 'Sai.' Shino Aburame." He finished with a deep breath. "Now, all that's left is Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru Nara… and you."
Naruto frowned. "Why did you go to see them? You barely know most of them."
"To apologize," Sasuke said. The words flowed easily, but they were unusually heavy, and vanished quickly.
And then, he dropped to one knee and lowered his head. His whole body felt like it was full of lead, and he was sure that weight wouldn't vanish until he was done here.
Naruto blinked, cocking his head.
"Sasuke-" he said, before the Uchiha cut him off.
"I'm sorry," Sasuke said. He looked up. Naruto stared back, stricken. "For running away."
"Sasuke, what the fuck are you doing?"
The Uchiha ignored him, searching for more. "I'm sorry for going to Orochimaru. For putting a hole in your shoulder at the Valley. For leaving, even after you proved we were equals there." Naruto gaped, speechless. "I'm sorry for acting as I did when you came for me at Orochimaru's base in Sound." He considered, and gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. There was really only one thing to say. "I shouldn't have left."
"I... " Naruto made a sound like a balloon slowly deflating. "What?"
"I told you I met my parents in Amegakure." Sasuke took a slow, heavy breath, before blowing it all and emptying his chest. "We talked. Not for nearly long enough. But my mother and father… they made me see some things differently. I imagine it as much the same for you."
Naruto's eyes fell. "It wasn't enough time."
"No," Sasuke agreed. "Not nearly."
They stayed like that for another couple seconds, and slowly, Naruto relaxed. His shoulders dropped, and his hands, which had been balled into fists, unclenched.
"Aren't you going to get up?" he said.
"Only if you accept my apology," Sasuke said. Naruto gave him the ghost of a grin.
"I accept your apology, Sasuke." He lowered his hand. "Thank you."
Sasuke allowed Naruto to pull him to his feet. The Uzumaki's hitai-ate was held in the same hand Sasuke extended; both of the shinobi had a hold on it. Sasuke started to pull away, and Naruto instinctively tightened his grip on the piece of metal.
"I'm not going to let you make such a moronic mistake," Sasuke said, the word's less brutal than they should have been. "You're going to live with them." Naruto looked at the forehead protector, and then at Sasuke, his mouth twisting.
He pulled the band away, and Sasuke let him take it.
"Heh," Naruto snorted as his hands fully closed around the sun-warmed metal. He squeezed it, just a bit, and then showed Sasuke a real smile. "We've got to get yours back too, then."
Sasuke sighed. "Of course you still have it."
Naruto raised his eyebrows. "Of course I do! You think I'd let you forget I managed to put a scratch on it?"
The Uchiha grimaced. "I suppose it's in your apartment then."
"Course. Same one it's always been," Naruto confirmed. Slowly but surely, the animus Sasuke was familiar with was returning.
"Hn," Sasuke said. He turned, putting his back to the blond. "Race you there."
Then he leapt of the monument. As the wind whistled in his ears and he picked up speed, hurtling down towards the village at a higher and higher velocity, he heard a distant, unmistakable yell.
"You bastard!"
Tsunade interlaced her fingers, leaning into her desk and blowing out a long breath. Her hands came up, masking her mouth. Her office was completely silent, despite being well occupied. She regarded the translucent container in front of her. It was such a small thing, barely bigger than her fist, but the small orb floating in the clear fluid it held was dominating her thoughts.
"Hmm," she half-groaned. Jiraiya, who was standing to the side of her desk, cocked an eyebrow. She could feel it. Fortunately, he didn't say anything. Tsunade wasn't sure if she would have put him through a wall or not if he had. Her mind was racing, weighing possibilities.
"You're sure?" she asked for the second time. Itachi Uchiha, quietly waiting in front of her desk, nodded politely. It was still a bit surreal to see that, Tsunade thought; less than a month ago, she would have killed him on sight. Now, they were meeting in her office.
"I'm sure," he said. He certainly sounded it, though there was a minute hitch in his voice. He shifted in his simple dark clothes, a small sign of discomfort. Tsunade wouldn't have seen it if she weren't watching for it in the first place. Even after her personal attention, the hole that had been ripped in Itachi's side had been a brutal injury. If the Uchiha hadn't cauterized it, he almost certainly would have bled out before Sakura could have stabilized him. "Sakura can attest as well."
Tsunade turned to her apprentice, standing beside Itachi. The pink-haired girl glanced uncertainly at the former missing-nin, before looking back to her master. She nodded as well.
"I crushed it," she said confidently. "I found a bit of the residue on the scene; the pigmentation couldn't be mistaken. And…" she hesitated. "I'm sure I heard it."
The Hokage almost grinned at how squeamish her apprentice looked. The sound of eyeballs being crushed didn't breach the top five on a list of disgusting sounds she'd heard. Sakura may have been a genius when it came to medical ninjutsu, but here her relative lack of field-work was showing.
"So," she said, redirecting her attention to the container in front of her. "We have the only Rinnegan in existence then." The eyeball bobbed, as if in assent, and Tsunade frowned.
"Hopefully," Jiraiya spoke up with an edge of humor, and Tsunade looked over to him. Her teammate grinned back at her. "Who knows? Maybe there's some monk running around out there with this thing who hasn't seen another man in a century or two."
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "You've been writing too much again. Fine; the only known Rinnegan in existence. Does that make you feel better?"
Jiraiya made a half-bow with a smarmy grin, and Tsunade snorted. She looked back to Sakura and Itachi.
"Now," the Hokage said, "what to do with it?"
"Huh?" Sakura asked.
Tsunade gestured at the bobbing eye. "What do we do with it?"
"Ahh…" Sakura hesitated, looking to both the older shinobi in the room. Itachi looked back at her without a change in expression, but the Haruno was somehow sure he was laughing at her. Or at least chuckling. Jiraiya didn't offer anything either; he just raised an eyebrow.
"Sensei," she said slowly. "Shouldn't you, uh, talk to the jonin council? Maybe the elders? Why-?"
"I'm asking you, Sakura." Tsunade was perhaps enjoying seeing her student squirm more than she should. "What should the village do with this enormous power that's fallen into its hands?"
"Well…" The Haruno hesitated again. "We could give it to one of our more powerful shinobi." She inclined her head towards Jiraiya, and the Toad Sage snorted. "If they were willing to undergo the procedure, of course. Pain was an incredible enemy; having one of him on our side would be a boon."
"I wouldn't take it," Jiraiya spoke up, shaking his head. "I already lost one arm; no need to lose an eye as well." He grinned. "I'm rather fond of them, you know."
"And that would risk it falling into enemy hands," Sakura said, one of her arms moving behind her back to grasp the other. She really was nervous. Tsunade's apprentice bit her lip. "It wouldn't be a practical use of resources. Something like this is way too big to send out into the field, especially after…" She glanced at Itachi, and then back to Tsunade. "Well, especially after Sasuke and his brother have returned to the village."
There was a hitch in her voice on the first part of that sentence, Tsunade noted. She didn't blame Sakura. So much had changed in the last couple weeks.
"So giving it to someone would be wasteful," Sakura concluded. "It would be much better to keep it here, in the village, and study it. Maybe you could figure out how it grants the kind of power it does, master. No one knows the human body better than you."
Jiraiya blinked, and Tsunade crushed the urge to backhand him out of the tower. Instead, she just smiled at the compliment. "The thought had occurred to me."
Sakura smiled, but her gaze wandered back to the eye floating in the jar. Tsunade didn't think much of it; it was certainly an unusual sight. However, Itachi must have seen something she couldn't. The Uchiha spoke up.
"There's something else," he said, pinning Sakura with his flat eyes. The Haruno narrowed her own, staring back, before shrugging. There was clear hesitation on her face, but she spoke anyway.
"It's stupid," she said. "There's no way you haven't already thought of it."
"Oh?" Jiraiya asked. He grinned. "Go ahead. You might be surprised by what folks like us miss."
Sakura crossed her arms, staring at the eye for another couple seconds.
"You could destroy it."
"Hmm?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
"I know," Sakura shook her head. "I'm only saying it because you asked." She paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts, before pressing ahead. Itachi watched her with interest. "The Rinnegan is an unbelievable kind of power. It let Pain take on the Kyuubi. He didn't win, but he and Naruto nearly leveled the village fighting each other." The ghost of a shiver traveled down Sakura's body, and Tsunade frowned behind her hands.
"The other villages, if they knew that we had something like the Rinnegan in our hands…" Sakura shrugged. "Well, it's pretty scary, isn't it? Pain somehow used it to bring everyone who died back to life. You saw it, Jiraiya-sama." The toad sage nodded, his lips pursing. Tsunade knew he must have been remembering his final meeting with his student. "I never would have thought that was possible, but he managed it from the edge of death." Sakura let out a shuddering breath, her body shaking slightly as she finished her speech. "So who else knows what this eye is capable of? It might be that destroying it now will be better; if one of the other major villages ever finds out that we've got it, they're not going to stand by. They couldn't afford to."
"You think there could be a war over it?" Tsunade asked. She noticed something cold slip into Itachi's eyes, like a layer of frost covering a cracked stone.
Sakura frowned. "I'm only 17, sensei. Fifty years ago, I probably would have been fighting a war my whole life, but today, I've never even seen one." Her lips pursed. "I don't know."
There was a silence in the office, despite the brightness outside. Itachi eventually pierced it.
"There is another factor," he said, and everyone looked to him. "What Madara-" He blinked, before resettling himself. "What Obito Uchiha was trying to accomplish, crafting his Infinite Tsukuyomi… however he was going to do it, he needed the Rinnegan to do it."
"But he's disabled," Jiraiya pointed out. "Your Kotoamatsukami saw to that. If you really struck him, there's no way he'll recover."
"Of course," Itachi conceded. He almost seemed uncomfortable. "He had allies, though most of them are gone now. And Zetsu possessed him and enabled his escape." The Uchiha silently pondered for a moment. "So long as this eye exists, the possibility of the Infinite Tsukuyomi does as well."
It didn't need to be said that that was a bad thing. Tsunade mulled the uncomfortable Uchiha's words over. Being sealed into an endless dream certainly wasn't in her future plans. And Itachi was, of course, correct, as was Sakura.
The Rinnegan was dangerous. Its existence could cause as much or more trouble as any possible gains it could make for Konoha.
But…
Jiraiya's hand being laid on her shoulder startled her, and the Hokage jumped. She hadn't noticed her teammate move. She looked up to find him giving her one of his unusually serious looks.
"It comes down to this, I think," he said confidently, before gesturing at the eye.
"We either keep it to further sensei's dream, safeguard the Will of Fire, and strengthen the village-"
'And give Nagato's death some meaning,' Tsunade could imagine him saying. It was obvious how his student's fate weighed on him; his forced humor over the last two days was as obvious as the sun rising.
"Or we can destroy it because we're afraid," her teammate finished with a grimace. Sakura looked uncertain at the proclamation, but Itachi lifted his head slightly. Jiraiya's hand settled back down on Tsunade's shoulder, and he squeezed. "Are you afraid, Hime?"
The Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves considered the question.
'Are you afraid?'
Akatsuki was all but destroyed. The village had gained the last of its wayward Uchiha. Jiraiya had escaped certain death. Naruto had made a fatal, stupid mistake, but it hadn't permanently taken the lives of any Leaf shinobi; she doubted he'd ever want to use the Kyuubi again, though. Orochimaru was still out there somewhere, with a workable Edo Tensei jutsu. The other villages were doubtlessly shifting; there'd be a change in the wind soon.
"Hmm," Tsunade finally said. Her hands came down flat on the desk, and she pushed herself up.
"Sakura," she declared, and the younger woman snapped to attention. "You're still my apprentice."
The Haruno blinked and nodded, and Tsunade showed her teeth. She gestured to the Rinnegan with an open palm, her eyes both warm and challenging.
"Consider this your graduation test, then," the Hokage proclaimed. Sakura's mouth fell slightly open. "Unlock the secrets of this eye, and you will have truly surpassed me."
"Ah-!" The medic gaped, before bowing. "Of course, Hokage-sama."
"None of that crap," Tsunade dismissed, and Sakura came back up. "I'll get you your own facility; this will probably consume much of your time. Don't be surprised if you aren't going on as many missions as you used to."
"I…" Sakura muttered, still mostly speechless. "I won't let you down, shishou."
"I don't think you will, Sakura," Tsunade said, and the meeting came to an end.
Behind her, a paper airplane began insistently tapping at the window.
Kakashi Hatake sat alone in the dark and glared at the back of his eyelids.
His hands, clasped together between his knees, were trembling. They gripped each other, the knuckles whitening. He wasn't wearing his gloves, or any of the rest of his shinobi accoutrements. They were all folded or stacked and put away in various alcoves across his rather bare apartment; Kakashi couldn't bear to have them all in the same place. Now, all he was wearing was a plain black shirt and long pants. He was practically invisible on his bed, his feet resting on the floor, his head bowed.
From outside came the faint sound of children shrilly yelling, but Kakashi ignored it. He was straining, his head pounding. Slowly, the rest of the world stopped existing. He stopped seeing the back of his eyelids.
It was still black. Still utterly lacking in light. But this was a different kind of darkness. It wasn't created by shut windows, slammed doors, and drawn curtains. It was the kind of blackness that came from something actively devouring the light that dared touch it. It was a kind of dark that made Kakashi feel small and furious. He fought the urge to light a Raikiri.
This blackness was nowhere near him. He knew it in his bones, even if it felt like it was right in front of him.
It had been like this in Amegakure. This kind of dark. His eye had been aching, an agonizing, pulsing burn, since that day. When-
He'd burst from the rain, his hand a line of electric death, turning everything around him a pale shade of blue. The living shadow had jumped, barely dodging a blow that would have vaporized everything behind its ribs. And as it had jumped, that seething yellow eye, like a rotten lemon, had turned to glare at Kakashi…
And suddenly he was looking at himself.
There was a desperate red glint behind that flat yellow eye. A pinwheel. It was and wasn't a reflection of Kakashi's own crimson Sharingan; a mirrored image laid over itself.
He was watching himself as he slipped below the shadow. He could see himself looking back.
Resonance.
That hadn't been Madara. It hadn't been Zetsu, that peculiar living shadow.
That had been Obito.
Obito was alive.
Kakashi had been a shinobi all his life. He'd found his father facedown on their living room floor, a kunai buried so deeply in his heart that the hilt was barely visible, before he'd turned six. He'd killed just over three hundred people with his bare hands. He'd made two hundred and thirty three of those kills with the Sharingan active; he could remember them in perfect detail if he so much as closed his eyes. He'd murdered his best friend with the jutsu he'd invented, and saw her face, streaked with blood, mud, tears, and rain, every night before he fell asleep.
Kakashi had been a shinobi all his life. So now, two days later and in the darkness of his apartment, he didn't question how his friend could be alive, or how he'd come to identify as Madara Uchiha, leader of the Akatsuki. Instead, he poured as much chakra into his Sharingan as he could.
The darkness made more and more sense to him. He was staring through Obito's other eye; the one that had stayed in his friend's head. Zetsu was still molded over the man; there was nothing to see but shadows.
The Hatake stayed like that for over two hours, sitting perfectly still as the day slowly ticked away. The shadow shifted, whirling and churning, but remained. Occasionally, Kakashi started to think its movement was all in his imagination. He was barely breathing; his heart beat once every two seconds. He was nearing the edge of chakra exhaustion, sitting there with the Sharingan active for so long. Eventually, he would pass out, and then the darkness would be an entirely natural one.
But he couldn't stop looking. He couldn't stop hoping that he'd see something-
His eye twinged, a phantom pain.
Suddenly, the shadow receded.
Obito fell to a hard stone floor, and the shadow slithered away from him. It had been as foregone as gravity; now it was gone. There was no sound. Kakashi could only see, after all. But less than a second later, Obito was alone on the ground. He stared ahead, his vision still as stone. If it weren't for the incredibly subtle shift in angle as the Uchiha's head rocked with his breathing, it would have been impossible to tell if he were even alive.
Kakashi kept watching. He didn't even have to tell himself to remember everything he saw. The Sharingan did it for him. What he could see was unremarkable. It was a room with roughly cut stone walls and floor. There was a fire somewhere, casting a flickering, warm light over the wall. It looked cold. In the corner of Obito's vision, the Hatake could see the edge of a desk, made of plain wood and stacked with empty flasks. There was a purple smear on the ground in the center of the Sharingan's vision, as if someone had taken a violet paint-brush to a pile of rice. It was lumpy and misshapen, and hummed with chakra.
Nothing happened for four minutes and twelve seconds, but for occasional slovenly blinks turning the world dark for brief moments. Blackness started to edge into Kakashi's vision. Then, someone turned Obito over. He limply flopped, staring straight upwards.
A pale, cruel face stared down, a smile stretching inhumanly across it. Its slit yellow eyes narrowed in mad glee.
The mouth moved. Kakashi couldn't hear anything, but he could read lips.
"What an unexpected gift," Orochimaru said. He bent down.
Kakashi cursed, and blacked out.
AN: Less sure about this chapter than I was of the one before. No matter; we're getting along.
Hope you enjoyed it. Serendipity, out.